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Bob Bosworth's Mothman Sighting
In November 1966, Bob Bosworth and his friend Alan Coates are said to have seen the legendary Mothman within the TNT Area's abandoned North Power Plant in Point Pleasant, West Virginia. "A friend of mine, Alan Coates, had a motorcycle" Bob said in an interview with local Author, Jeff Wamsley. "We were just riding around and Al said 'You want to go up through the TNT area?' and I said 'we might as well'". Bob and Alan had already heard news stories about the Mothman which locals referred to as simply "The bird". Bob had even once offered Roger Scarberry $5 to take him to where he saw the bird, but Roger declined the offer. It was chilly weather so the men were wearing heavy coats. They drove along Camp Conley road. The road was adjacent to the old armory which later became fairgrounds. "So we're riding out through there and Al said, 'look at that!". We stopped and up on top on the roof of that old power plant building, it was I believe a three story building, and up on top we seen two big, what looked like red eyes looking at us. We sit there and looked at it and Al said, 'You know what that is?' ...He said, 'Somebody's probably got a couple reflectors nailed to a board trying to fool somebody.' and I said, 'I bet you're right.' So I said, 'Let's go up and see what it is'". "We stopped right there and we looked up. Well it looked like these red eyes were looking down at us then. - That still didn't bother us much because we thought whoever it was just turned the board." The men tried to pick up the front of the motorcycle and shine the headlight on the red eyes but the motorcycle was too heavy. They couldn't get the front end of it up high enough so they decided to just go up to the top of the building. They entered the power plant and went up to the third floor on a concrete platform. There were metal grating catwalks that veered off toward abandoned equipment. "In the process of a lot of demolition work they had removed the ladders that took you up on the roof. I thought that how in the world could anybody get up there? All of a sudden this...I don't really know what to say...whatever I saw. - It very slowly and precisely walked toward us." The floors of the abandoned power plant was littered with broken glass from the windows and you couldn't really take a step without hearing it crunch beneath your feet. The moonlight was so bright it was shining through the openings of the windows creating a spotlight effect while leaving certain places still in complete shadow. "We heard it walk and it walked right up and just stayed in the dark" At this point he didn't see any red eyes. "I thought about that and I think that it is because there was no light to reflect them." "All of its movements were slow and precise, no flighty movement, no waddles or anything like that. - It got to the point that if I had taken one step and extended my arm I could have touched it." Bob claimed to have seen just a distinct outline of the creature. The unique shape was large and had broad shoulders. He estimated that it was 6'6" to 7ft tall. "I don't know of any man that I have ever seen that's built that way - back then I weighted 170 pounds. - It's shoulders went past me and it had a taper to it like, well I compare it with a robin, you know a bird looks when their wings are folded and how they're bulged at the top and then come back down to a taper." "It was just as though it had a head, a large head sitting on its shoulders." "Here's what we did, because you can't sometimes comprehend what you're seeing. Well it looked very strange so I told Al, 'You know,' I nudged him with my elbow so he would go along with it, I said, 'Al, that's that bird.' I said, I'm gonna shoot it'. We didn't have any guns." "If it were somebody they should have spoke up and said, 'Hey man don't shoot, It's me'. No. Nothing. It just stood right there. I said it again. I said 'Al, I mean it, I'm gonna shoot it.' he said, 'Well go ahead.' Well I put my hand into my coat like I had a gun. No sound. - It stood right there just as if it were looking right at me." "I'm 5'9" and I had to tilt my head back a little bit to look to where it's face should be. And it was a rounded head. Well if you can imagine a 'U' upside down. - it was just too big to be a man." "were no quick or threatening moves whatsoever and had it meant any harm it certainly had its chance right there, towards either one of us. But I remember that any nervousness went away and I started becoming more interested in trying to figure it out. I became at that point very calm. I wasn't afraid. I was unsure." Bob and Al stared at the thing in front of them for 5 to 6 minutes. "It very slowly and precisely turned towards the catwalks. Now these catwalks had been torn up and everything else. They went out to nothing and dropped off three stories down. It's where they had removed equipment so whatever this thing was turned - and started walking out the catwalk. - So I'm still to the point that I'm not sure what I am seeing and I didn't want anyone to get hurt. So I yelled out, 'Buddy, don't go out on that catwalk. There's no railing it drops off out there three stories down'. Never a hesitation. Then we heard the sound like wings." "It was just as though it said, 'Well, I'm bored', and left." "It walked to the back of the catwalk and only at that time for some reason is when we started getting a little nervous. - we hastily left." Moth953.PNG Moth954.PNG Moth955.PNG Bob and Alan ran down the steps. They didn't hear anything else but kept looking back as they ran to the motorcycle and drove off. On the ride home Bob was concerned that the thing might follow them. He didn't want it swooping down and bumping into them on a motorcycle going 70 to 75 mph. "One thing that always stuck in my mind all these years is how in the world, if it was a person or someone out to scare us, how they could get up there and then get down that quick and inside building while were coming up the steps". Bob and Alan mostly kept to themselves about what they saw. They didn't think the police could help and Bob's father thought he was seeing things and that "no one would believe him" even if he told them about what he had ran into late that November evening. "I would give anything - to see it again one more time before I die. I would do things differently. I would try to touch it. I just got the feeling when it was in front of me that I was safe and it wasn't going to hurt me". Bob Bosworth told his story to Jeff Wasmlsey, who published it in his 2005 book, "Mothman...behind the red eyes". In 2017, the audio from this interview was used for an animated sequence in The Mothman of Point Pleasant Documentary. Sources: Mothman...behind the red eyes by Jeff Wamsley (Page 17) The Mothman of Point Pleasant Documentary (2017) Category:Mystery Category:66-67 Point Pleasant WV MothMan FLAP